Philadelphia Psychoanalytic Foundation Viewing & Discussion of “Decoupling”, Friedberg Award Winner

The Philadelphia Psychoanalytic Foundation will be presenting “Decoupling”, a film by Yinan Wang, 2022 Winner of the Friedberg Film Award of the Philadelphia Psychoanalytic Foundation on Friday, November 8, 2024 from 8 to 10 pm US-Eastern Standard Time via Zoom. Registration for the event is required and can be made at www.tinyurl.com/pcopfilm.

Decoupling (2023) is about a journey the filmmaker took to bring back his daughter who was trapped overseas due to US-China tensions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film becomes an examination of his family's suppressed history of trauma caused by forced separation during the Cultural Revolution.

Yinan Wang, the filmmaker, will be present to introduce the one-hour film which will be streamed, followed by comments from discussants, Corinne Masur, PsyD, and Ya-Juan Zhang, BA, who are both faculty at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia. They will be followed by a question-and-answer session for the audience.

Providing background on himself, Yinan Wang says, “Born and raised in Beijing, I began my filmmaking journey with ethnographic work across China before relocating to the United States, where I spent several years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I see myself as both a "bridge worker" and a "ferryman" between Chinese and American cultures, delving into themes of belonging, humor, history, memory, food, and the uncertainty and fluidity shaped by my cultural identity. As a transplant constantly navigating the space between my roots and my current surroundings, I draw energy from this dynamic flux, fueling my passion for art-making and informing my perspective on the world around me.”

Yinan Wang is a graduate of Temple University's MFA program in Film and Media Studies. Wang is currently a Lecturer in Film, Video, Animation and New Genres at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His work has been featured on PBS and screened at venues across the United States, Canada, Austria, Slovenia, Spain, and China. In 2018, he was honored with the Emerging Voices Award by HBO, followed by the Sikay Tang Critical Lens Award and the Cream City Cinema Jury Award in 2024. Yinan was also a fellow at the 74th University Film and Video Association in 2020 and the 67th Flaherty Film Seminar in 2022. He was the 2022 winner of the Friedberg Film Award of the Philadelphia Psychoanalytic Foundation.